Delmar.] . JibO [Oct. 2, 



are also fed to horses, asses, camels, sheep, fowls and dogs, the animals 

 consuming all the abortive fruit, and even the date-stones, when softened 

 in water and ground up, the latter being often collected for the purpose 

 by indigent persons. The young shoots of the date-palms are used as a 

 delicate vegetable, resembling asparagus ; the leaves afford couches, 

 baskets, bags, mats, brushes, etc. ; the trunk affords wood for fences, 

 fuel, etc. ; the fibrous part, cordage and thi-ead ; the pith, starch ; and 

 the sap, a fermented liquor. 



Dourra ( j), indian-corn, ble turc, millet, soighum (*?. vulgare), or Guinea 

 corn — for it is known by all these names — is a species of Iwleus (allied to 

 broom-corn, etc.), and the principal grain of Egypt next after wheat. 

 Varieties of this grain are grown in Africa and Asia, and it has been 

 tried in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and elsewhere in the 

 United States, for use as cattle-fodder, but abandoned (except in Cali- 

 fornia, where its cultivation was only begun a few years ago) in favor of 

 oats or barley. Next to dates, it forms the staple food of the Egyptian 

 peasant, and in Upper Egypt and Nubia particularly. Indeed, in Nvibia 

 it is used for the purposes of currency. Wishing to prove the prolificacy 

 of dourra, and quoting Hamilton's EgyptiaccB, Buckle sa.ys (vol. 1, p. 62) 

 that " it yields to the laborer a return of 240 for 1." It is possible that 

 a single grain will yield a plant bearing 240 grains ; but this degree of 

 prolificacy is exceeded by maize and many other cereals. Therefore, ' 

 taken by itself, this fact means nothing. But if Hamilton meant that the 

 average yield of large areas sown in dourra is 240 for 1, which is what 

 Buckle took it to mean, this statement is as wild as his other, that an 

 ardeb is 16 bushels. Nor does it signify, in this connection, that, to quote 

 another author (Appleton's Encyc. Art. Millet) a bushel of millet has 

 been grown on six square rods of land, which is equal to 26| bushels to 

 the acre. The practical fact is, that in Egypt, at the present time, dourra 

 yields on the average about 12 bushels to the acre (the C. R., 1873, p. 

 1085, say 2^ ardebs per feddan), or somewhat more than wheat in the 

 same country. Its preference to the latter is doubtless due either to the 

 lesser amount of seed and care required in its cultivation, or to the lesser 

 trouble requii-ed in its preparation for use. It is ground between two 

 stones and made into a brown bread, said by an enthusiastic traveler 

 to be of "admirable quality" (Contemp. Rev., Feb. 1874), bat is 

 greatly deficient in flesh-forming materials. Hamilton says, that " in 

 Upper Egypt the dourra constitutes almost the whole subsistence of the 

 peasantry ;" but this is so far from being correct, that they eat several 

 pounds of dates to one of dourra. Although its use in Egypt is less 

 common as one proceeds from Nubia to the Delta, it is nevertheless 

 still largely consumed in Middle Egypt. The lotus, which was used for 

 food in tlie time of Herodotus, is now almost a rare plant. 



Beside dates and dourra-bread, the food of the Egyptian peasants con- 

 sists largely of beans and lentils, which are made into soups and other 



(j) Spelled variously, as dourra, dourrah, dhourra, dhurra, dourah, dowrah and 

 durr 



